Naruto: Rise to Greatness
by The Xel
Summary: After Naruto was attacked before the seventh Kyūbi festival, Kyūbi decides to interfere and greet Naruto early. With the promise of help, Kyūbi and a Wraith known as Shi, will help Naruto rise to the greatness he deserves. Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, here I am starting a new story.**

**So let's start!**

'Yo' means talking

**'Gaki'** means Bijuu or Diety

_'Yo' _means thoughts

**_'Gaki'_** means Bijuu/Diety thoughts

'Kage Bushin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Jutsu)' means Jutsu or translation

**Chapter 1 – The Fox and the Wraith**

* * *

Pain.

That's all he felt as the shouts of 'Demon' and 'Kyūbi brat' could be heard throughout the streets. The onlookers had set a stage in the middle of the village for all to see as the one they hated had a rope around his neck and a trapdoor beneath his feet, ready to go off.

The hated person they were shouting at was a young six year old Uzumaki Naruto. The boy had long, shaggy blond hair with cerulean blue eyes that shined in the afternoon sun, and six whisker marks that donned the sides of his face. From a distance, none of the villagers were able to see the tears falling from the boy's blue eyes.

"Today, we purify Konoha!" The executioner yelled to the audience before him as the crowd rang out in cheers, "We kill the Kyūbi. We avenge our fallen brethren that died six years ago!" The executioner pointed to Naruto with a smug look on his face. "Today, we bring peace to our guilty consciousness for we kill this demon! For Konoha!" The executioner pulled the lever.

_"Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this? Why…" _Naruto quickly closed his eyes as the trapdoor opened beneath his feet, _"Why does everyone hate me?!"_

* * *

**-In Naruto's mindscape—**

* * *

**"Not everyone hates you, kit. They hate me." **A beast hidden behind a large cage murmured upon seeing the blond jailor appear in the mindscape.

Said blond, quickly opened his eyes when he had heard the loud voice. The blond sat up, his back to the cage and quickly surveyed his surroundings. The place he was in was a murky sewer with dirty water covering the floor. The old walls were starting to crumble and the pipelines held against the walls were rusty and shaking violently.

"Erm… who said that?" Naruto asked he cocked his head to the side in curiosity. The sound of something sharp scratching metal were his answer. The noise made Naruto shriek and spun around to see the large gate. He gawked at the size of the sheer size of it before focusing his attention on a glint of red behind it. "Who are you?"

With a growl and grunt, the beast moved to the front of the gate to show its face. The beast was a giant red fox with nine flowing tails shaking around from its rear end. Its slit red eyes were focused on Naruto as it saw his eyes widening. Naruto was mumbling lightly under his breath that the beast could not hear.

**"Well, speak up! If you have anything to say, at least allow me to hear it, gaki." **The beast growled out louder than before, frightening the boy once again. Naruto gulped as it spoke to him.

"Ky..ky…kyu…Kyūbi no Yoko." Naruto stuttered out upon seeing the large beast. He heard stories of how the Kyūbi was defeated by the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, but it said that he killed it. So why was it right before him? "You…you died! The Yondaime killed you! So why are you in my mind?!" The beast chuckled upon hearing those words. "Don't laugh, just answer me!"

**_'Demanding…never thought the gaki would demand me to do something.' _**The Kyūbi quickly recalled upon memories of its previous jinchuuriki and its new jailor's mother, Uzumaki Kushina. Always demanding chakra to get out of skirmishes when needed. The Kyūbi sighed, **_'I hope the gaki isn't like his mother about demanding my chakra in the future.' _**Kyūbi once again looked at the Naruto, taking in his looks that he had inherited from the Yondaime. **_'He will have women after him so much in the future, I swear he will have a broken waist almost every month.'_** The Kyūbi inwardly smirked at the thought of future Naruto.

"HEY! ANSWER ME!"

Kyūbi sneered upon hearing Naruto's voice ringing in the prison. **"Rikudou Sennin, you are fucking loud gaki! And you ask me why I haven't contacted you before now." **The Kyūbi made a small wave of water splash Naruto, knocking him onto his back. The Kyūbi let out a playful chuckle and when realizing what it had just done, Kyūbi quickly buried its head into its paws and grumbled something Naruto could not hear.

"I asked you why you aren't dead, like all the books at the Academy say!" Naruto yelled once more before shaking off the water like a shaggy dog. Kyūbi huffed before rising out from its paws and stared at Naruto once more. Naruto's face was radiating anger and rage, somehow he made the two things different in this scenario, and it actually scared Kyūbi for a fraction of a second.

**"Fine. I am a Bijuu, one of the nine Bijuu that hold Demon Chakra and Youki." **Naruto quirked an eyebrow and Kyūbi sighed before explaining what Chakra and Youki were to him, one being energy from spiritual essence and physical essence, the other being the life energy the Bijuu had. **"Back on track, because of my demonic energy, I cannot be slain by normal means. Only demons may kill demons, but humans, in this case your precious Yondaime, can seal Bijuu into humans. Which explains why I am here, in your mind and gut."**

Naruto paused as he took in all the information he had received. The villager's attacks, their threats, their attempts of murder…were all because of the Kyūbi. But when he thought about it, the Yondaime must've knew he had the capability to withstand the Kyūbi so the Yondaime knew Naruto would be a great ninja. '_Beat that Sasuke-teme. Has a Hokage ever entrusted you to hold something as powerful as the Kyūbi back?' _Naruto openly smirked at that thought.

"Hey, Kyūbi…" The Kyūbi opened one of its eyes to stare at Naruto. The Kyūbi's eye widened when it saw marks appearing on Naruto's arm, all in a shape similar to the seal. Naruto thrusted his arm forward in a punching motion and the Kyūbi felt light headed as an invisible force knocked it into the wall. "That's what you get for giving all of those attacks, threats, and more. Be glad I can forgive you for getting me out of those things though, I felt your catra flowing through me when I think back to it and because of how you described your Cara, I know it was from you know., so just…thanks. And sorry I don't have the chance to get to know you better." Naruto turned and sat in the water. He was giving off a depressing aura. "The villagers are stabbing my sleeping body, I just know it." Naruto then heard another light chuckle from the beast. He allowed one blue eye to stare at the Kyūbi.

**"I can heal faster than they can strike at you with knives. I can also help you get out of your predicament, but you'll need to use my chakra. Is that ok, gaki?" **Naruto nodded quickly, seeing as this was the best option to live with his insides mostly intact. **"Also know that by this, the council, the villagers, and some shinobi will demand your head, legally or illegally, they will try to obtain it. So I am also, as we speak, getting the Shinigami to contact a friend of mine and his. He will arrive in one week to start training you. Good luck, gaki." **

"One more thing, Kyūbi." Kyūbi shifted its body to show its acknowledgement. "Are you a boy or a girl, just wondering?" Naruto flashed his childish foxy grin to the Kyūbi. The Kyūbi slowly backed up, hoping to avoid the question, for it had almost forgotten Naruto was six in their conversation.

**"I will not answer that yet, Gaki. Besides, why should I tell you?" **Naruto simply nodded and vanished from the mindscape with the exiting sound violent shaking pipes. But he did not leave without taking notice of a slight pink shade on the demon fox.

* * *

**-Konohagakure, Center of Village—**

* * *

While Naruto was having his chat with the Kyūbi, the villagers were having the time of their lives striking Naruto's body that was thought to be lifeless. The executioner, who had strands of blue hair, was polishing his fuma shuriken with the cloth that was holding the ryo he made off of charging people to vandalize the demon's body.

The executioner chuckled when he remembered some people asking if they could take parts of the demons body home with them, but he told them to wait till everyone had a chance to seek vengeance on him. The executioner was going to be rich after all of this. So, before he was off to leave the demon's corpse to the birds, he took once more glance at him to watch the people stab the demon.

Currently, two people were attacking him. Both with what seemed to be tantos. They were aiming in vital areas, like the heart, the aorta, and the lungs. The blood running from the attacks seemed to be getting darker with each stab. Then one of the men attacking finally aimed at stomach. When the blade was right about to make contact, it was stopped by a thin wall of orange chakra. The villager's eyes widened when the chakra started to grow and spin around the corpse.

Then, Naruto opened his eyes to reveal the ocean blue irises had become a bright red. Naruto extended out his arms and hands while pumping out more chakra at a rapid rate. The chakra began to tear apart the rope holding him in the air and at the same time, the stage that had been set up. The villagers ran from the chakra tearing away the land around it, their screams of 'Kyūbi' and 'Demon' being blocked out by the destruction.

After everyone had left the area, Naruto let the chakra settle down and retreat back into his seal. With the rapid releasement of his chakra and the Kyūbi's chakra, he was exhausted. He felt his eyes go heavy and allowed them to close. Not long after the whole fiasco, two ANBU had appeared next to the sleeping form of Naruto. The one with the Cat mask sighed and the Dog masked ANBU was too busy reading an orange book.

"Hokage-sama will be furious upon hearing about this." The Cat masked ANBU grumbled to the Dog masked ANBU. When Cat had noticed his partner and mentor, Dog, was not listening, he slapped the book out of Dog's hands.

"Icha Icha-Chan!" Dog nearly shrieked. After picking up his book and placing it back into his back pocket, he glared at Cat. "Bad move, Tenzo. I will have my revenge."

"Whatever you say, Hatake-sempai. Just remember, one more year and you're done with being my ANBU Captain, so we will be equals then." The ANBU named Tenzo replied while rolling his eyes behind his mask. The ANBU Dog, called Hatake by his ANBU peers, grabbed Naruto and headed off to the Hokage tower with Tenzo not far behind.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and took quick notice of where he was. It was quite obvious with the smell of smoke and the stacks of paperwork near his once resting body was unmistakable.

"Ojii-san, why am I here?" Naruto asked without moving, and nearly giving a heart attack to the old Hokage.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, Shinobi no Kami, the Professer, was a stern man in his late sixties. He wore the usual Hokage attire of white robes and a white hat with a red mark and the kanji for 'Fire' in the middle. His old skin was colored a dark tan and wrinkly from his age while his once dark hair was now a lightened grey. The pipe he had in his mouth was giving off smoke and he had his face in a stoic expression to show the seriousness of the situation.

"Naruto-kun. Reports from Dog, Cat, and Civilians are saying you actively attacked civilians in an aggressive manner for no true reason. Is this true?" Naruto's jaw dropped from the severity of the story being changed. The final straw had been pulled, and so, Naruto snapped.

"Ojii-san. I was attacked, hung, and stabbed repeatedly. Of course I would result to using the Kyūbi!" Then Hiruzen's pipe fell out of his mouth and he was left with no words to say. "And yes, I now know about the Kyūbi! In fact, Kyūbi is the reason I am alive right now!"

"N-naruto-k-kun, the Council will need to hear about this themselves. Both the Shinobi and Civilian councils are worried. So let me just- Naruto-kun, where are you going?" Naruto was almost the out of the office by the time Hiruzen called out to him.

"Home! I'm not dealing with the Council at this time when I should be resting at home!" Naruto had already slammed the door and was walking off, "GET ME IN ONE WEEK IF THE COUNCIL IS CONCERNED!"

Hiruzen sighed. _'He sure is like Minato when it comes to the Council. Willing to listen, but not to care.' _Hiruzen smiled, _'He'll be a fine Hokage one day. You truly will be, Naruto-kun."_

* * *

**-One week later—**

* * *

Naruto had finally finished his spar with his rival, Uchiha Sasuke, and once again, lost. Naruto was badly beaten and had started to bleed in multiple areas, for some reason unknown to Naruto, Sasuke had been more brutal in this fight more than any other.

"Take this!" Punch. "And this!" Punch. "And finally this for distancing yourself from me, Itachi!" Sasuke had raised a kunai he stolen from one of the older classes, and was aiming for Naruto's lung. Naruto, nearly unconscious, was about to let the attack go, as were Sasuke's fan girls that were watching from a distance. But it never connected.

"Let go of me!"

While Naruto had slipped into unconsciousness, a man with black hair had appeared by his side and was now holding the Uchiha's hand.

The man wore black pants and a white shirt with a fishnet undershirt. The black cloak was drenched in water to shows signs of heavy rain or snow in his travels. His face was covered by a mask that allowed none of his facial features to be visible. The mask itself had a maniacal grin in the form of a 'V' stretched from the sides of the mask while large curved red lines curved over the lower and higher quarter regions of his mask, stopping at the edges of the smile and continuing on the other side.

After taking in the man's appearance, Sasuke snarled at him and proceeded to drive the kunai towards the man. Before the kunai made contact, a punch had connected to the Uchiha and sent him flying into the Academy wall. The man looked at Naruto and turned back to the Uchiha.

"You harmed Naruto…" The man's voice was monotone and dark, "for that, I will show you a new horror that shows a pain that can only be surpassed by Death!" In a few seconds, the man had switched places with the kunai Sasuke dropped on his tumble over, and his hand was already on the Uchiha's head. **"**Magen: Horā( Demonic Illusion : Horror)!"

Everyone stared in shock as black chakra began to run from the man's hand, and Sasuke was screaming. When Sasuke had stopped screaming, he fell to the ground, tears running from his eyes, and mumbling the words 'Itachi wouldn't do that…he wouldn't.' The man walked away from the crying Uchiha and stopped at Naruto to pick him up in his arms and hoist him onto his shoulder. Before he took off though, he heard many fan girls yelling at him.

"Hey, what'd you do to Sasuke-kun?"

"He made Sasuke-kun cry!"

"Get back here you basterd!"

The man turned slowly to the army of fan girls charging at him. The man raised his available left hand and moved the mask to show one visible red eye, increasing any intimidation he had on the kids.

"Fan girls pretending to be ninjas are useless. You should know your place in this world, weaklings." His voice released a bloodlust that stopped the girls in their tracks and made most foam at the mouth and drop unconscious. Only a blonde haired girl and a bubblegum haired girl stood up, ready to puke before them. The man raised an eyebrow at how they stood and took note of it for later use before he dashed off with Naruto in hand.

* * *

**-Naruto's Apartment—**

* * *

Naruto awoken with a jolt. His last thoughts of Sasuke's merciless beatdown and nobody to stop him. So, why was he in his apartment? The boy scratched his blond hair and took notice of how he was in an orange shirt and grey pants, they were clothes he never wore before nor owned. Naruto simply shrugged and exited his room.

Naruto quickly noticed a man in black clothing and a mask tilted on the side of his head was cooking food. When did this man show up, and how did he get into his apartment? Naruto was really freaked out for once, and he had met the Kyūbi.

"Ah, Naruto, you awoke." The man said while still looking at the oven, "Sit and let me introduce myself." Naruto sat at the small table in the kitchen. The man quickly turned and placed a plate in front of Naruto. The plate had rice, ramen, and what Naruto guessed, chicken. The man then sat in front of Naruto and watched the boy wolf down the food.

Once Naruto had finished, he curiously stared at the man. He was obviously in his late teens or young adult years and his red eyes resembled blood. As Naruto swallowed the last bit, he finally spoke. "Who are you, was that poisoned, and who sent you here?" The man could only laugh.

"The only thing that could kill you in that meal was deliciousness, and Kyūbi sent me. I am Shi, your guardian Wraith, or more scientifically, half-spirit, half-human."

* * *

**And Chapter 1 is done. Any reviews on how it was done is welcomed and any tips would be helpful.**

**'Magen: Horā', C-Rank to B-Rank, Close Quarters (Contact Required, typically head to allow for more effective results), an alternative to those who cannot peer into the hearts of their enemies, Horā allows the closest horrific sight to be brought to the victim's vision. This jutsu only works as long as contact is held.**

**Oh yes, I want you to start thinking of what pairing you want in this story. Options are Harem, Crack, or both Sakura and Hinata, poll on my Bio.**


	2. Chapter 2

'Yo' means talking

**'Gaki'** means Bijuu or Diety

_'Yo' _means thoughts

**_'Gaki'_** means Bijuu/Diety thoughts

**'Kage Bushin no Jutsu(Shadow Clone Jutsu)' **means Jutsu or translation

**Chapter 2 – Political Problems**

* * *

Naruto stared blankly at the man before him known as Shi, who also had proclaimed he was half-spirit. Naruto would ask for an explaination but the process of seeing a new man, who didn't hate him AND was actually nice to him, learning of a new sub species of humans, or ghost, hell, he didn't even know. So Naruto did what he normally did at his age. He slammed his face onto the table.

"Better than I thought." Shi stated as he scratched his black hair. "You didn't even yell or scream for help." Naruto grumbled before staring back at the man. Shi's mask rested on the side of his head and his hair spiked as it went to the back of his head. His eyes were the color of blood and if he stared long enough, he could see no signs of emotions behind them.

"How in Kami's name are you half-spirit and half-human?" Naruto grunted. Shi smiled at the grunt.

"If I told you that, I would have to kill you, and Kyūbi would kill me and more for that." Shi chuckled at his words.

"Are you ANBU?" Naruto pointed to the mask while Shi shook his head in response. "Then what's the mask for?"

"Intimidation." Shi spoke with his tone growing dark. He moved the mask back over his face. The maniacal grin and black eyeholes were intimidating, as if it radiated Killer Intent. "I'll teach you it later, but for now…two ANBU are outside."

And on cue, a knock was heard at the door. Naruto walked up to the door and opened it to reveal Dog and Cat. Shi turned his head to stare at the ANBU and in turn, they stared at him.

"Dog-san! Cat-san!" The young blonde cheered at his old bodyguards. Naruto knew Dog and Cat from back when the attacks on Naruto's fourth birthday. Cat waved at Naruto and held out his hand for the blonde boy to take.

"Hello, Naruto." Cat spoke in his blank voice, "Hokage-sama wishes for your audience. It has been a week, has it not?" Shi turned his attention to the blonde boy.

"Naruto, what is this audience about?" Shi raised an eyebrow behind his mask. Naruto let out a nervous laugh as he scratched his head.

"Well, you see…our mutual aquintance helped me last week and the Council freaked out over it." The boy amongst men started poking his index fingers together, "And I have to answer them today."

Shi quickly shrugged and rose out of his seat. He walked up out of the apartment ahead of everyone. He turned back to Naruto and beckoned him with his hand. "Well then, they'll have to answer to me. I am your guardian, after all."

Dog's eyes widened upon hearing the word guardian. He held his hand out, preventing Naruto from taking his step towards Shi. "Who placed you as his guardian? I know Hokage-sama didn't, nor anyone on the council. The only viable options are you're an assassin, or a rogue. A rogue, all ANBU were notified to find."

"I am his guardian, legal or not. Deal with it Copy-nin, Mokuton-nin." Dog and Cat were taken back by his words, "I also was, as a matter of fact, going to Hokage-sama to become a Jōnin, so your right to call me rogue is gone." Cat had thrown a kunai when Shi finished his sentence. The kunai quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced with Naruro. "I hope you have better ways to assault a potential nin of your village, Mokuton-nin. Now let's go say 'hi' to the Councils, ne Naruto?"

Naruto nodded as he and Shi walked onto the streets of hateful glares and hurtful insults. One person even died along the way by Shi's hands for calling Naruto the Kyūbi when they were almost out of earshot. Dog and Cat were following not far behind and eyeing Shi as he listened to Naruto talk.

"Do you think he was telling the truth about being Naruto's guardian?" Cat asked Dog. Dog sighed as he placed his beloved orange book into his pocket once more.

"If he is, and I do not know exactly whether he was lying or not," Dog eye-smiled behind his mask, "He will do great for Naruto. And if he becomes a nin here, he could do great as a Jōnin-Sensei. Not many people know how to use Kawarimi(Substitution Jutsu) to such a degree. I know I can do that, but he would've had to been anticipating the attack, or focusing chakra in the halls. Bah, I don't know at this time, too many possibilities."

"Getting old, Hatake-sempai?" Cat teased his mentor. He quickly felt a glare coming from behind Dog's mask. Cat barely smirked behind his own mask.

"I am only a few years older than you, you know that, Tenzo. Or did you forget about it because 'you're getting old'?" If Cat had not been trained into a calm, collected, professional ANBU member, he would have smashed Dog's head in between two wooden logs.

* * *

**-Shinobi and Civilian Council Chamber—**

* * *

When Naruto and Shi had arrived at the Hokage's office, Hiruzen was not there, only his son Asuma. Asuma told them to go ahead into the Council's chambers and they'd find the group already in starting. Asuma had also given Shi a warm welcome, knowing his intentions for Dog and Cat arrived ahead of them in word that Hiruzen should be notified of Shi's presence.

When Naruto and Shi finally arrived in the Council chamber, they saw a large circular room. It held an elongated curved table to hold the Shinobi Council, Civilian Council, and finally Hiruzen and his advisors. The group had been talking about a certain blonde who also had just entered the room with a black clothed and masked man. The undeniable whispers of Kyūbi welcoming their entrance. The two stopped in the middle of the room and left the group gaze upon them.

"Ah, Naruto-kun, glad you could make it." Hiruzen smiled warmly to the young blonde boy, and the boy smiled back. "And I am guessing this is the man who calls himself your guardian. Before we proceed with Naruto-kun's arrangement, let us find out why this man is here. Now, why are you here?"

Shi closed his eyes and opened them in a second after. "I see Dog and Cat, as Naruto calls them, have arrived before me. Oh well. I have been sent here by a mutual acquaintance of mine and Naruto. I promised this acquaintance six years back that I had to leave but if the acquaintance needed me to help Naruto, I would return to train him." The council murmured to themselves, "And so I have returned to do so, whether it be legal or not." Shi patted Naruto's head and he let the boy swat his hand away with a laughing 'Stop!'

Hiruzen's smile grew wider upon hearing the sincerity in Shi's voice. _'He truly wishes to protect him, but what will the Council think of him guarding Naruto? I must have him prove himself in some way. Got it!' _"Mister…" Shi spoke his name, "Shi. I cannot simply allow you to guard someone like Naruto out of the blue. So I hope you understand, but you will fight one of our ANBU. Win, and I make you his legal guardian, which comes with being a Konoha Shinobi and a Jōnin rank. Agreed?"

"Hokage-sama," Dog spoke from his spot behind the Hokage, "He is more than capable, may I recommend training Naruto instead? It will put his loyalty, tolerability, and even his rights as a future guardian to the limit."

"Dog, are you sure about that decision?" Hiruzen asked his ANBU.

Dog nodded, "He can use Kawarimi to a high degree. He easily switched out Naruto with a thrown kunai before making his way here. Also, as a secret between me, you, and Jiraiya, he is one of the agents from Tetsu no Kuni.**" **Hiruzen thought over the words.

"I will see how things turn out first." Hiruzen whispered to Dog, "Dismissed for now." Dog saluted and stepped back into the shadows.

"Now, Hiruzen, how can trust this man? I mean, what could he offer Konoha that we do not already have?" A man named Danzō questioned. Danzo was an old man at the age of 70. Danzō had been in the Third and Second Shinobi wars, he had learned the ways of deception and stealth, as well as political set ups, and was the rival of Hiruzen in the title of Hokage. The only thing stopping him at the current time from achieving his dream was waiting for the old man currently Hokage to kick the bucket.

"I can protect and train your greatest asset if a war comes. The Academy is most likely holding him back, and in turn, holding back what could be a future Hokage." The Civilian Council was quieter than usual upon the words of the Academy while the Shinobi Council, and Danzō, were intrigued. "Tell me, Naruto, what has the Academy taught you?"

"Nothing really. All the stealth in my pranks, the speed in running after my pranks, and my current survivability were things I learned myself while growing up. The Academy teachers tell me to do was to sit back and watch everyone else. And my knowledge of Henge (Transformation), Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Jutsu), and Kawarimi is next to nothing." Naruto shrugged. Shi stared at the Shinobi Council, who in turn stared at the Civilian Council.

"The Civilian Council is in charge of the Academy. In order to keep balance between the power of us and them. And we specifically told them to train Naruto to the best of their capabilities." Inoichi, head of the Yamanaka clan, and father of Yamanaka Ino, spoke with anger.

"Hai. Me, Inoichi-sama, Chouza-sama, and Shikaku-sama were all there." The head of the Aburame Clan, Aburame Shibi, and father of Aburame Shino spoke in the natural Aburame tone.

"Hokage-sama, I do not approve of the action the Civilian Council has taken. I wish to take Naruto out of the Academy until appropriate age to take the Genin test." Shi was beginning to seethe, "I also request that the Academy be thoroughly investigated of their teachers and courses, if possible. The boys and girls there thrive on their titles and could not even handle my tone without throwing up or passing out nor could your oh so precious, Uchiha-sama, withstand my simple genjutsu."

The Civilian Council and the Hokage's Council were about to speak up at the last part consisting the recently named Uchiha Clan heir, Sasuke. Hiruzen stopped all commotion by raising his hand and also releasing killer intent with a calm face, the oxymoronic, but effective, position of seeding fear into others.

"I will permit the first request because it will be taking over as your Konohagakure Entry test." No response was made, "You will guard, train, and raise Naruto into a fine ninja before his Genin test, and if you wish to continue onwards with his training, I will consider the option of you being his Jōnin-sensei afterwards."

"Am I a temporary Jōnin and guardian of Naruto in this arrangement?" Hiruzen nodded in response, "Then I do not object. But what of the second request?"

"It will be taken by a vote as soon as you exit. Dismissed." Shi nodded and walked out with Naruto at his side. As soon as they left, the Civilian Council, and the more Danzō allied Shinobi council members started to rant about Naruto's trial. "Silence. Because of Naruto's new guardian, his previous trial is at error and now proclaimed an invalid trial."

* * *

**-Naruto's Apartment—**

* * *

When Naruto and his new guardian arrived at Naruto's apartment, the boy sat on the couch placed in the cramped living room while the newly instated Jōnin cleaned up the small mess he made in the kitchen while cooking earlier. While Shi cleaned, Naruto took note of Shi's colorful language.

"The kami fucking damnit! I am a fucking ex-assassin and I can't even clean one hell of a mess?! That's it!" An explosion could be heard from the living room. "Take that! I fucking knew learning at least one jutsu from Katon(Fire Release) and Fūton(Wind Release) would be good! C-Rank stands for Cleaning Rank!" Shi stepped out of the kitchen with dust on his shoulder and his hair blown back like the so called 'Prince of Saiyans' from the comic book Naruto was reading. Shi quickly shook his head and his hair fell back into place.

"So…I'm training you now." Shi took off his mask and stared at Naruto, "But we still don't know each other well. So ask me anything you want to know."

"Name."

"Shi."

"Last name?"

"I'm an orphan, so don't have one." Naruto could relate to those words.

"Likes?"

"Doing my job without error, training, cooking, and something else." Naruto raised an eyebrow. "No, you may not know the last thing, yet."

"Dislikes?"

"Error, Politics, and Orochimaru the Snake Sannin."

"You're a perfectionist then?"

"I want the mission to be done as fast as possible. So if everything goes correctly, then we reduce chances of casualties, and I want everyone to get through the mission in one piece."

"Reasonable."

"I have a question for you now." Naruto raised an eyebrow to Shi.

"How in the nine blazes of hell, are you this mature at your age?!" Shi nearly yelled out to the seven year old. "You were calm during the meeting and have not freaked out over anything since you met me!"

"I learned to be calm and mature in serious situations. It kind of got drilled into me after so many pranks." The boy spoke with a wide smile on his face. Shi slammed one of his hands onto his head.

"I hope you do know that I will not tolerate that at all once I begin to train you, correct? The whole pranking thing." Shi grumbled while Naruto nodded. "And that I'll also train you to become a powerful person but to get to it involves endless training and brutal training, which we must do." Naruto nodded once more, "And the chance of me breaking your bones and Kyūbi fixing them is rather high." Naruto nodded a final time.

"So when do we start?" Naruto asked his sensei. Shi pulled out a plain white paper and placed it into Naruto's hand. "What's this?"

"Put chakra into it first." Naruto attempted to do so and the paper, after about an hour or two, Shi lost track of time, the paper began to cut down the middle. After the paper had cut itself into half, Shi smiled and frowned which left his face in an odd expression. Naruto had struggled to hold back his laughter. "You are a Fuuton user. Aka, a user of wind based attacks. I am a proficient user of Raiton(Lightning Release)**. **I'll ask Hokage-sama if he has any scrolls to help you start working with it."

"Can you teach me that jutsu you used in the kitchen?" Naruto asked, and in response Shi shook his head. "Is it because it is a C-Rank?" Shi nodded and Naruto sighed. He was eager to learn a powerful jutsu.

Shi had set up a pile of blank papers, a pen, textbooks, and then an odd contraption made up of wood, strings, and round wooden balls with the strings going through them. Shi placed a textbook in front of Naruto and said boy looked at the young man who was smiling.

"What is this?" Naruto asked, pointing to the book.

"A textbook. You see, ninja must learn to read, write, and do math or else they could ruin a mission from lack of knowledge. So, during the weekends and on Wednesdays, we will train mentally. I know you learned how to read and write words, so each Wednesday, I want a paper reviewing what we did throughout the time after the last Wednesday and before that Wednesday. So start training your brain, and tomorrow, we will train your body." Naruto sighed.

Shi was going to train this boy to break every Genin he would graduate with. Naruto was worrying more on how he would survive with just the academic learning. And the Kyūbi? Kyūbi was laughing its head off in its cage at Naruto's pain.

"Naruto, trust me on this. If you don't do this, you'll go back to the Academy, not learn anything, and be the punching bag for the Uchiha once more." Naruto's eye twitched at the mention of Sasuke. "Go through with this, and you'll graduate, become Chunin as quickly as possible, even pick up some ladies along the way…" Naruto quickly blushed at the thought. Many women around him, all wanting him, all ignoring the teme. Naruto finally smirked and pulled the book over his to begin reading it. Shi smiled and walked out to the apartment and sat in the hallway.

"Copy-nin. I request you to contact Jiraiya and ask for him to come to Konoha some time. I think Naruto should take the first step of coming into his heritage." Shi spoke quietly in the empty hallway. A man with gravity defying silver hair and a black outfit walked out of an empty apartment and out of the complex. Shi followed the man outside and onto the staircase, watching him walk off. The silver haired man showed him the peace sign before walking into the streets. Shi turned his head from the streets and onto the sky.

"Naruto…I will fix the wrongs in your life. I will train you for any disaster that may come your way. I will guide you through the darkness. I will, help you reach the greatness you deserve!"

* * *

**The prologue of the story is complete. Now we will truly follow Naruto and Shi, and of course Kyūbi will be tagging along, into the Shinobi world!**

**Also, the current leading group in the poll for this stories pairing is Naruto x Harem! In second, is Naruto x Crack, and in dead last, is Naruto x Sakura x Hinata. In anticipation of Harem or Crack winning, I want all of you to go ahead and tell me which girl(s) you want to be in the pairing. I do not want you to say Hinata or Sakura, they will be my decision on whether or not they will join(This also means that if Hinata joins, so will Sakura, and vice versa.)**

**Now, where is my cookie?**


End file.
